Sheltering in the Powerhouse

"Fasten your heatbelts!". That was the headline of today's Sydney Daily Telegraph on the first day of the predicted heatwave. And it was definitely, properly hot. We attempted a walk to Darling Harbour, weaving from shade patch to shade patch, but as we were going past the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences aka the Powerhouse, the lure of the air conditioning was too much. So went in.

And it was brilliant. The main excitement for me was the Egyptian mummy exhibition transferred from the British Museum. This focussed on six mummies from across the Egyptian era, with a small number of exhibits meaning you could really engage with the different people. But actually we all loved it (Jemima was most excited by the mummy of a two year old boy with a gold funerary mask). 

But that was just the start. There was a large exhibition about the age of steam with different machines from across the period, puffing hot clouds, (Kevin's favourite, but again, fun for all, and very fitting given the venue was a wonderfully converted power station). And other exhibitions included a room of transport from a sedan chair to a jet fighter via a hackney carriage, a tram and a penny farthing bike; a room of 3D printed art; a room focussing on high design technology from Olivetti to Apple; a space exploration area including an actual piece of moon and recreations of the inside of the space station; an exhibition of "icons" - objects famous for their design, from coins to the Marilyn lips sofa; and a brilliant section illustrating basic physics with more Lego for Jemima. Plus a kids' Egyptian archaeologist section where we dug for finds. Our best Museum yet.

Then ice cream was calling. We braved the rest of the walk through the stifling heat (37 degrees) to Darling Harbour, and for the first time ever, didn't sit with a water view but instead inside, in the cool. And then an air conditioned cab back to Chinatown to watch the lion dance for Chinese New Year, which was fun, if a bit scary for Jemima; and an un-air-conditioned Japanese for dinner which was delicious if sticky (thank god Jemima eats rice and likes Asian flavoured meat/fish - it's been Thai then Chinese then Japanese recently). Then a retreat through a breezy evening back to our hotel, having successfully survived the first day of the heatwave. (I believe it might be quite chilly in England. Sorry for complaining...)